Trash-bin fire inflicts more than $1 million in damage to historic Pioneer Square building

By HECTOR CASTRO AND BRAD WONG, P-I REPORTERS

Published 10:00 pm, Monday, May 21, 2007

Photo: PAUL JOSEPH BROWN/P-I

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Reverend C. Lockland surveys the damage in the historic Metropole building at 423 Second Avenue in Pioneer Square. A fire early Monday morning gutted the first floor of the building, which dates to the 1890s, and was home to G.O. Guys drugstore until the 1960s. less

Reverend C. Lockland surveys the damage in the historic Metropole building at 423 Second Avenue in Pioneer Square. A fire early Monday morning gutted the first floor of the building, which dates to the 1890s, ... more

Photo: PAUL JOSEPH BROWN/P-I

Trash-bin fire inflicts more than $1 million in damage to historic Pioneer Square building

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Investigators believe smoking material tossed into a trash bin caused an early morning fire that damaged the historic Metropole Building in Pioneer Square on Monday.

The 1893 brick-and-stone building is home to the Metropole Market, a restaurant, and several offices, including an architecture firm, an advertising agency and a software firm No injuries were reported, but the fire caused an estimated $1.1 million in damage.

The fire was reported just past 12:30 a.m. at the three-story building located at the corner of Second Avenue and Yesler Way, Seattle Fire Dept. Lt. Sue Stangl said.

Fire crews arrived to find flames and heavy black smoke pouring out of the first floor of the building.

The fire grew to three alarms quickly as crews struggled to locate its source, which was difficult to find because of the building's construction, Stangl said. Firefighters were finally able to locate the main fire, concentrated in a mezzanine space between the first and second floors, she said.

The smoking materials, which were likely in an ashtray, had been tossed into a trash can near the base of some stairs leading to this mezzanine level, Stangl said.

Even hours after the fire, shattered glass littered the sidewalk and street around the damaged building. The charred interior of the market, including a blackened cash register, were visible anyone passing by.

Everett said the concrete flooring between the ground floor and the second level likely saved the building. The fire damage was concentrated in the market with most of the other offices suffering smoke damage, she said.

"I was pretty devastated to see the market," Everett said.

She spent Monday morning calling her tenants, who were expected to get into their offices sometime Monday afternoon.

Everett was confident the building could be salvaged. She expected it could take two days before power is fully restored, and another week for the clean up.

Damage to the building was about $800,000 with another $300,000 in damage to the contents.

Tom Romary, CEO of one of the businesses, the online travel service, Yapta, took the day in stride.

Monday was when the startup firm expected to launch its Web site and, despite the fire, that was still the plan. The company's computer servers are in Tukwila and it was able to set up temporary offices at the downtown office of an investor.

"I hope it is a good omen, who knows," said Romary. "It will be one of those things in the history of our company that the day we launched is the day that our offices went up in flames."

According to the city's Department of Neighborhoods /Web/ website, the Metropole began life as the H.K. Owens Building, and was originally owned originally by Henry Yesler. It was home to the G.O. Guy Pharmacy, famous as the site of a deadly 1901 gunfight between Seattle police chief William Meredith and John Considine, owner of a theater whose shows included the theatrical and the erotic.

Meredith reportedly chased Considine into the pharmacy and tried to shoot him with a shotgun, but missed. Considine wrestled the gun away and shot the chief, killing him.

A plaque on the side of the building commemorates the shootout and the history of druggist G.O. Guy, whose first-aid manual, "Klondike Doctor," became popular with turn-of-the-century prospectors.